hutch103

Hi there - My fiance and I are getting married on a Saturday in early October. We want to honeymoon on the following Monday and will likely go for between 14-18 days. I am more of a quality over quantity person, while he more quantity over quality, so we are trying to come up with a compromise. I really love Paris and would love to spend a couple days there, he would love to go to Switzerland, and I would love to do Italy. So we have come up with a sort of random trip and below is an itineraries that we have tossed around. Can anyone give me any advice on if this is too much - if there are better things to do than the Almafi Coast(which I really want to see). Any advice would be lovely. Thanks so much!

Day 1 – Paris
Day 2 – Paris
Day 3 – Champagne Tour
Day 4 – Paris – travel to Zurich
Day 5 – Day trip to Bern or Lucerne?
Day 6 – Zurich
Day 7 – Fly to Rome - would Venice or Florence be better? I'm not that set on Rome.
Day 8 – Rome
Day 9 – Travel to Positano (Almafi Coast)
Day 10 – Positano
Day 11 – Capri - these are all day trips and we would pick a base to travel from (possibly positano)
Day 12 – Almafi/Raveelo
Day 13/14 – Figure out how to get home – back to Rome or wherever we can fly out of

Again, any advice on this being too much - we might be able to stretch this a few more days. Any suggestions on what would be something you that you would do in these regions for a couple weeks?

Thanks again for all your input. Happy New Year!

Kathie

Where are you coming from? Obviously, if you are coming from London, the transition to Paris is quick and easy. If you are coming from the US or Canada it will be a long flight and you will be jet lagged.

PalenQ

Day 4 – Paris – travel to Zurich
Day 5 – Day trip to Bern or Lucerne>

Well if you have not been to Alpine Switzerland head for dem hills and the fabulous Jungfrau Region near Interlaken - put yourself us in a romantic mountain village like Grindelwald or Wengen and be eyeball to eyeball with glacier-girdled peaks soaring thousands of feet above lush meadows. Tiny toylike trains and thrilling aerial gondolas go off in all directions - hiking paths for all degrees of difficulty - even in October the weather should be good enough to enjoy this awesome area. Can get to all villages by train from Interlaken, railhead for the area:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...HXYUDokQsAQIGw

Bern and Lucerne and Zurich are fine cities by the awe or wow factor of Switzerland IMO lies up in dem hills.

For lots of Swiss and European trains check www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. day trains to Venice from Interlaken take I think about 6 hours and is a scenic route thru the Alps but flying would be quicker from Zurich.

twk

I like Switzerland--I'm going there for 2 weeks in June--but I don't think that spending 2 days based in Zurich in October is going to be worth the trouble. Add that time to Paris and Rome (or Venice, whichever of those two Italian options you choose). Save Switzerland for another trip when you have more time, and can spend time in the Alps (October is the wrong time of year for the Alps).

nytraveler

Agree that you are trying to cover too much territory. And for Switz you want to be in the mountains - not in the towns. Zurich is a business city and IMHO quite boring and not worth any time. If you want to stay in a town Lucerne is quite charming and has easy access to several smaller Alps. If you want the high peaks you will need to stay in the foothills of the Jungfrau. But Oct is late in the year and mountaintops may well have substantial snow at this point.

StCirq

Agree with others about Zürich, a straight-laced, boring, xenophobic city that's incredibly expensive. I would choose Lucerne in October - the Jungfrau could be difficult to maneuver in October if there is a lot of snow.

Whathello

First : congrats on your wedding.

My thoughts :
Also agree on CH.
I don't like the cities there and whilst I try not to say they are xenophobic, the minimum I can say is that the Swiss I met in cities are not that warm.

Mountains are great I've done them mostly during ski holidays and only once in summer - not sure about october : probably no more sun and no snow yet.

I dislike Zurich and Basel, don't like Luzern nor Bern (they are ok but you can find more charming villages in Germany or Alsace with a lot more friendliness and less expensive).

Italy is THE place to go on honeymoon, they will be doing tons to make you feel good. Food is great (not impressed by CH food I'd add). I'd sepnd at least one night in Venice - that's still imho THE romantic city.

Paris : can't go wrong there. Champagne : good idea - we did the tours with a car.


mvg.

hutch103

Thanks so much everyone! We are coming from Chicago. That's good advice about Switzerland. It seems worth it for that to be a separate trip and more time in the mountains rather than the cities.

suze

Plus removing Switzerland will add 2 days back into a (imo) too jam-packed itinerary.